Lawyer for Removal (Deportation) Proceedings – What is Removal?

Removal is another name for deportation. Before being deported, individuals are generally entitled to a removal hearing in front of an immigration judge at the U.S. Department of Justice, where they can assert defenses against removal, request relief from removal, and ask to be allowed to stay in the United States.

How are Removal Proceedings Triggered?

Removal proceedings are sometimes triggered by failed applications for visas, permanent residency, citizenship, or other failed petitions. Most often, they are triggered by an arrest.

Typically, an individual is arrested for alleged violation of a local law, then the local police report the arrest to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and then DHS’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) division places an ICE hold on the defendant to hold them in jail until a removal hearing can be held. Often, defendants with an ICE hold can request a bond hearing to allow them to go free from jail until their removal hearing.

When removal proceedings are based on alleged violations of local laws, the request for removal is based on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS’s) interpretation of local laws to meet the federal definitions of deportable offenses, such as “crime involving moral turpitude” and “aggravated felony”. One way to defend from this kind of removal is to show that DHS’s interpretation of the local law is wrong, and that the alleged violation does not constitute a “conviction”, a “crime involving moral turpitude”, a “controlled substance offense”, “firearm offense”, “crime of domestic violence”, etc.

What Defenses are Available in Removal Proceedings?

There are many other immigration defenses, strategies, and categories of relief from Removal. These include Asylum, Cancellation of Removal, criminal waivers, non-criminal waivers, Convention Against Torture relief, prosecutorial discretion, Deferred Action, Withholding of Removal, motion to terminate based on application for citizenship or permanent residency (Adjustment of Status), application for removal of conditions on residency, motion to terminate based on visa petition, VAWA, motion to suppress, Voluntary Departure, and post-conviction relief.

How My Office Helps in Removal (Deportation) Matters

I help clients in removal proceedings by representing them in bond hearings to allow them to go free from jail until their removal hearing, by working with clients to create a strategy of defense, applying for relief from removal, and representing clients at removal hearings. If you are in need of representation in a removal case, please call me.